FIGHTING POWER OF THE BOERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 159, 7 July 1899, Page 5

FIGHTING POWER OF THE BOERS.

On this point a South African journalist writes:—The Boers know every inch of the ground, and hide themselves away in the hills, where they could use as targets any force that ventured to march in the open. They are brave at a distance where they can feel secure from the enemy's fire, and have the pleasure of measuring their skill without fear of retaliation. One could not call them cowardly, -for if it came to a hand-to-hand encounter they would fight like very demons, though the want of good military organisation would be bound to tell against them. Mind you, we are not dealing with savages, but with men physically strong and naturally cunning, excellent marksmen, aod well equipped. It is impossible to estimate the strength of their weapons or their stock of ammunition. For years past they have been steadily accumulating firearms and quick-firing guns of up-to-date make, and nobody knows what their resources are in that direction.

In strength the Boei's of the Transvaal number about 67,000, against 90,000 Uitlanders, of whom SO per cent. are British subjects. In the Orange Free State there is a population of

110,000, of whom 80.000 are white; of those only about 10 per cent, are English, the remainder Boers. In Cape Colony, out of a population exceeding a million and a-half, abo\it 400,000 are whites, 75 per cent, of these being English. These figures show that in the whole of South Africa, not including the native settlements, the Boers number roughly 240,000. This, of course, does not represent the fighting force. It has yet to be determined as to what stand will be adopted by the Free Staters and Cape Colonists. There is still another consideration, too, and that is, what would be the result in the Transvaal alone if the half-million natives that are registered as having paid the hut tax there, were to run riol and join in .the fray. This is independently of the strife being taken lup outside the Transvaal. ]f rumour does not lie, and General .Toubert's plan is to storm Kimberley, destroy the Cape to Buluwayo and the Port Elizabeth to Bloexnfontein railway, finishing up at the end of "a fortnight" by titking Capetown, then, indeed, he would need the co-operation of evtrv Boer in the whole of South Africa, and even with tin's force at his back, such an accomplishment would drive into insignificance any JN'epoleonie achievement ever dreamt of.